The above picture is what I am going thru on a night to night basis. Usually starting at 11 pm or midnight and lasting until 6 am or so. Then during the day he is fussy and refuses to lay by himself or sit without us holding him.
I don't know what to do . We rock, walk, sing, snuggle, eat.......nothing helps. When he does sleep he will only do so on my chest or in his car seat. Forget the crib, that sends him off the edge. I have a very high needs baby , poor little guy. The more he eats the worse his belly hurts him but yet he is hungry all the time.
He wants to be held and comforted and I am exhausted. I don't get more than an hour or two of sleep at a time and that really isn't sleep as I am on the couch or sitting in the rocking chair. I don't want anyone else to watch him as they will just let him cry or they try to wrap him so tight he can't breath. If I hear someone say, "Give me a week with him, he will learn who is in charge and stop crying." one more time, I may just snap.
I have learned some triggers that I do my best to avoid. Changing his clothes after 3 pm..(he hates to have his clothes changed) No baths after noon and no leaving the house.... if I do any of these things I am know what awaits me.
We have some colic medicine, although I am not sure if it works.
My little guy is now 6 weeks old and people tell me this is the peak and it will start to get better now. I hope so....
I feel a bit to blame because while I was pregnant I let the stress get to me when I shouldn't have. Colicky babies are linked to their mothers stress in the womb. The whole 9 months was nothing but a big ball of stress for me......life and health issues had me disliking every aspect of my pregnancy. Now my poor little guy is having to deal with my short comings.
If anyone out there has some good advice for me, I can use it.......
as salamu alaikum
ReplyDeletefirst of all dont blame urself. i know woman who cryd all pregnancy long and their kids r always quiet so its really not ur fault. My son didnt was like urs for the first 2-3 weeks too and i was soo happy when i finally got more than 2 hours of sleep a time.
Did u try 2 swaddle him? ive heard many times it helps. If ur baby has colic its helpfull if u take care what u eat ( no lentils or anything bloating like cabbage or even onions).
Ill make dua for u that it gets easier fast, inshallah :)
Alaikum Salaam...
ReplyDeleteYes, I am doing my best to watch what I eat and am learning all the wrong foods to eat when you have a colicky baby. My son is also formula fed as well, supplemented, so I think that his belly has a hard time digesting the difference between breast milk and formula. I don't have a choice since he is hungry all the time and my milk just isn't enough.
He liked to be swaddled the first 2 weeks then after that he hates it. He will scream and wiggle his way out of it. I think its because he is so hot all the time anyway that when he is swaddled he just overheats.
thanks for the tip on the onions. I do still have that in my diet. I will be sure to put it on the elimination list.
thanks for the dua, we need it. :)
Your baby boy sound like me when I was small :D I can only sleep when I hear heartbeat :) I pray that you and your baby well :) Sending lots of love on the way to you :)
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if you have heard of the "Period of Purple Crying" - it was an initiative by MDs at a local hospital here in B.C. and has spread throughout the US....but research has shown that in every single culture around the world, babies do this to different degrees. It's nothing you did or ate or anything.
ReplyDeleteIn our hospitals around our province, every new mom is given the booklet and the DVD....
It gets worse up to about 2 months and then gradually subsides. Of course personality plays into it too....
Be assured that you are a really good mom and basically your baby will grow out of it. As an advice nurse who talks to new moms about this all the time...I really don't think gripe water works.
I know our data suggests food has nothing to do with what is going on, but you can experiment... sometimes dairy is a trigger....basically some of the types of foods that are common allergans.
Sometimes nothing works, but you just have to be patient with him (and i know you are!) and just realize that this is something all babies go through.
Here is a link to the Utah site:
http://www.purplecrying.info/
If you go to Youtube, there are videos about it too. Google it too....there is a lot of info on it out there... :)
If he seems hungry all the time, that is mother nature's way of increasing your milk supply during growth spurts which happen at least 3 times before 3 months of age. If there is lots of urine output and he is gaining weight - he is getting enough. Don't go by his crying or rooting....babies will suck on anything because they like to suck. They will cry from a bellyache if they are eating too much. Some babies are sensitive to some formulas, and definitely breastmilk is more easily digested! :)
ReplyDeleteAssalamu alaikum, my first one was like crying every night for the first 6-8 weeks. It would start at like 10 and go till 2am. Nothing would calm him except rocking him in his car seat, but that was of course at 2am... lol. Good times... Don't let anyone tell you what to do. You figure it out on your own. And maybe the only thing you will figure out is how to keep yourself sane, because sometimes babies won't stop crying! And you don't know why, but it's ok inshAllah.
ReplyDeleteOh my I remember my youngest slept on our chest for the first month....that was difficult to say the least, as soon as she'd fall asleep we'd sneak her into her crib, 30 minutes later she'd wake up crying. My daughter had bad acid reflux on top of this and had to be prescribed medicine, it wasn't fun at all.
ReplyDeleteI really don't have any advice beyond what anyone else has said, there was nothing we could have done differently that would have made her sleep longer right away, gotten rid of the acid reflux or made her less colicky it's just something we all have to go through, well most of us anyway.
InshAllah you have a good support system, I think that's something that could make all the difference.
My second child was like this. I was so sleep deprived I would bounce off solid objects and not feel a thing. It eventually contributed to PND. It will get easier. It really will. Their tummies dont develop properly til they are about 9 months and mine just didnt sleep til then. It's a hard thing to bear. Eventually found that if I put him in a vibrating baby seat it made hime sleep - he liked the car seat too. And sleeping on his tummy helped.
ReplyDeleteHope you are getting some sleep xxx
I'm sorry you're having such a hard time. I would suggest a swaddling routine... Like bath, PJ change, last feed of the day and then swaddle. So tight he can't breathe is too much but it should be snug. Find a light breathy natural material in a large size so it's snug but not overheating... I have Aden and Anais brand swaddles and love them for all sorts of uses.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! And congrats on your baby boy
Sister your baby may benefit from Ruqya. try reading ayat ul kursi on him or other ayat of ruqya
ReplyDeleteI hope things are going better for you. I was sure I wrote a comment to this but maybe it's still in comment moderation or it simply didn't work.
ReplyDeleteI've been trying to find your blog and thinking about you for a while but it just didn't pop up on my google reader since there was no new post. We both have a November 2011 boy... Anyway if you wanna message/ chat with me contact me at my email through my profile!
Salam!